Optimum Anabolics - Day 61/Product Review

Hello Hump Day!

A product sample of Vitargo S2 by Genr8 was delivered to the homestead a week or so ago courtesy of my (relatively) new favorite internet radio station, SuperHumanRadio. Since this was my heaviest week of training on Optimum Anabolics thus far, it seemed like a good time to try this stuff out.

Vitargo is a molecular carbohydrate in powder form that has zero sugar and comes in 2 flavors (orange, tropical fruit) and unflavored. The sample I tried was unflavored which was nice since it was going in a coffee smoothie. I used half of the packet yesterday and the other half today. This provided 35g of carbs per day.

Vitargo is derived from barley (NOT gluten free) and is designed to replenish your glycogen stores extremely quickly when consumed after exercise. Due to it's molecular composition, it digests and leaves the stomach twice as fast as normal carbohydrates. This leaves you feeling less stuffed or bloated, as well.

Enough background. Here are my thoughts...

PROS:

• No bloating is no joke. I was satisfied but not stuffed for the amount of carbs involved.
• One packet gives you 70g of carbs with no sugar. That's huge. No crashing involved.
• The unflavored option makes this very flexible for adding to any liquid.
• Unflavored also means less chemicals (aka, crap!) are involved.
• Most importantly, it's my opinion that Vitargo did what it said it would. I literally felt like I could work out again and my muscles were pumped up.

CONS:

• Is it possible to work too well? I had so much energy I was ready to jump out of my skin. I could not sit still and I only used half the packet to make my smoothie.
• The powder did not thicken my smoothie as much as I had hoped. Xanthan gum was still required.
• An organic option would be nice.
• Expensive. 10 servings are $37.00 on line. Yikes.

BOTTOM LINE:

• I would purchase this ONLY if I was looking to build muscle for a show or contest or if I was some sort of extreme distance/endurance athlete like a marathoner or a tri-athlete.
• It was too high-powered for casual use by guys like me. No Cadillac required here.

WORKOUT - CHEST/ABS

2 supersets of the Week 9 Day 5 workout were chest related, followed by a superset of abs work

Superset 1: Incline DB Flye, Dips - Chest version (I had to do some assisted reps here...phew!)
Superset 2: DB Front Lateral Raises (palms up), Regular Push Ups
Superset 3: Mountain Climbers w/ ankle weights, Stability Ball Roll Outs w/ weight

Total Time => 42:27

Comments:

I finished off the week very strong with plenty of focus and good strength.

Legs were crazy sore today. I was walking funny. (~:

I went with 5 LB weights on my ankles today while doing mountain climbers and then had to drop down due to short rest periods.

The end of the Progressive Loading cycle is TOUGH! Lighter sets and longer rest periods will be more than welcome next week.

I was generally sore from head to toe after these 5 days. Incredibly intense workouts.

DIET - PROTEIN DEPRIVATION

Breakfast, post-workout, was a repeat of yesterday. Asian Fusion oatgurt. One big bowl of oatgurt, 1 TBS tahini, 2 tsp raw honey, and 2 tsp of miso paste. Originally I had planned on going with apple and cinnamon but had to go back and do yesterday's recipe again. So good.

To get my post workout protein requirement taken care of, I had a coffee smoothie with the following:

• 1 C of chilled coffee (Cafe Brioso, of course!)
• 1 C of almond milk
• 1 frozen banana
• 1 scoop of plain whey protein isolate powder
• 1 tsp chocolate extract
• 2 TBS of cocoa powder
• 2,000 shakes of cinnamon powder
• 3 TBS of coconut milk
• 1/2 packet of Vitargo Muscle Fuel & Recovery

Morning snack today was two home-grown apples from the farmer's market and raw brazil, walnuts, cashews, and almonds.

For lunch, I polished off the last of the first (repeat that a few times fast...hehe) batch of 3 bean chili along with a few slices of left over almond flour crust pizza. Warmed my tummy on a chilly (no pun intended) day.

As an afternoon snack, hummus was spread on (the other) half a tomato and a yellow bell pepper from the farmer's market.

Dinner consisted of eggplant parmesan that Christina slaved over with raw zucchini "noodles". I'll be sad to see the eggplant disappear until next summer. They have been phenomenal. It never hurts to have the chef prepare them well, either. (~;

My muscles were glad to hear that tomorrow is cardio only. (~: